Aging Practice Tools

The Affordable Care Act, signed into law in 2010, has made meaningful improvements to the U.S. health care system and has established a number of consumer benefits. The ACA’s most significant feature begins on January 1, 2014, when many uninsured Americans will have access to health insurance, some for the first time. Here’s a primer on how the law might affect you.

Advance care planning is a process that enables individuals to determine and communicate their goals for health care. Clients’ engagement in advance care planning varies widely and may be influenced by multiple factors. Such variation requires reexamination of assumptions underlying the U.S. health care paradigm. To facilitate advance care planning effectively, social workers must understand each client’s values and biopsychosocial context and tailor interventions accordingly.

This publication provides an overview of public programs, such as Medicare Savings Programs and Part D "extra help," available to Medicare beneficiaries with limited resources and incomes.

Interdisciplinary collaboration can be one of the most rewarding, yet challenging, aspects of social work practice. This resource offers ways for NASW members to work more effectively with other disciplines.

Though case management has been integral to social work since the founding of the social work profession, the practice of case management has changed greatly over the past century. NASW’s revised standards for social work case management reflect this evolving context and reinforce the social work profession’s leadership role in case management.

In early 2011 NASW sponsored two professional research trips to Cuba to learn about social services in health care, child welfare, and aging. This report describes the activities of both social work delegations and information learned from the experience.